Billion | featured news

The House has overwhelmingly approved $9.7 billion to pay flood insurance claims for the many home and business owners flooded out by Superstorm Sandy. The vote came more than two months after the storm hit and days after Northeast Republicans erupted over House Speaker John Boehner's decision to delay an earlier vote.

The fiscal pact Congress reached hours into the new year will delay $109 billion in automatic across-the-board spending cuts for two months. But it will make a down payment on those reductions that will affect federal operations this year and next.

Toyota Motor Corp. has agreed to pay between $1.2 billion and $1.4 billion to settle a class-action lawsuit filed in 2010 over allegations of unintended acceleration in some of its vehicles.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. says the news and publishing unit it plans to split off next year posted a $2 billion net loss in the fiscal year through June, mainly due to one-time charges and restructuring costs in its newspaper division.

The New York Stock Exchange is being sold to a little-known rival in Atlanta for about $8 billion, ending more than two centuries of independence for the iconic Big Board. The buyer, IntercontinentalExchange, a 12-year-old exchange that deals in investing contracts known as futures, said Thursday that little would change for the trading floor in Manhattan's financial district.

General Electric is on the verge of finalizing a deal to buy Italian aerospace group Avio for as much as €3 billion ($4 billion), according to people familiar with the negotiations.

HSBC, the British banking giant, will pay $1.9 billion to settle a money-laundering probe by federal and state authorities in the United States, a law enforcement official said Monday.

Attention wealthy nations and billionaires: A team of former NASA executives will fly you to the moon in an out-of-this-world commercial venture combining the wizardry of Apollo and the marketing of Apple. For a mere $1.5 billion, the business is offering countries the chance to send two people to the moon and back, either for research or national prestige. And if you are an individual with that kind of money to spare, you too can go the moon for a couple days.

From a woman who sold fax machines door-to-door to creating a world-famous range of shaping bodywear worn by celebrities, Sara Blakely's career trajectory has been anything but usual. No Ivy-League MBA in sight, Blakely has helmed Spanx, a company that produces slimming bodywear -- bras, panties and more -- to a presence in more than 50 countries and an estimated value of over $1 billion, according to Forbes. With product names such as "Bra-lellulah" and headquarters complete with boudoir-like red walls, Blakely's empire is the opposite of corporate. Even the inspiration behind her privately-held company is like no other -- her own rear.

Yahoo Inc believes it has "numerous" grounds to appeal a Mexico City civil court's $2.7 billion preliminary judgment against the company, including both errors in procedure and in application of law, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday.